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The Quit Blog

Are E-Cigarettes for Quitters? Updated: 6.23.14

"The reality is that if e-cigarettes really are effective quitting tools, the research is going to prove it, and we're going to promote them. No conspiracy here."

Electronic cigarettes have been heavily marketed the past 8 years, first as a miracle quitting aid and now as a substitute for conventional smoking. Maybe you yourself have used them to quit or moderate your tobacco use. As tobacco treatment specialists, we're in favor of anything that diminishes a smoker's odds of suffering tobacco-related illness or death. Should e-cigarettes be considered legitimate quit-tools?

Being a science-and-evidence-based quit-smoking program, QuitNet can officially recommend only treatments that are FDA approved, clinically researched, and proven effective over placebo. That doesn't mean that other methods don't work for smokers, or that we insist that they not use them -- only that we have a high standard of clinical proof we're required to honor. Although we review our position every six months (based on ongoing and increasing research), QuitNet doesn't currently include the use of e-cigarettes in its roster of suggested tobacco treatments, for the following reasons:

• E-cigarettes are not proven quit-tools.

Because e-cigarettes are still so new on the mass markets, there is little controlled, long-term research on their role in helping smokers become tobacco-free. A handful of limited (relying on self-supporting) and/or manufacturer-funded studies indicate a potential harm reduction benefit to users, and anecdotal evidence points to a possible quit-benefit, but none have yet demonstrated a causal relationship between use and subsequent long-term tobacco/nicotine abstinence.

• E-cigarettes are officially designated as tobacco products.

Recommending e-cigs would put us in the position of hawking tobacco products to smokers. U.S. federal courts ruled that electronic cigarettes cannot be considered quit-smoking aids by the FDA, but must be regulated as tobacco products. After this ruling, the largest distributors of e-cigarettes admitted their products were intended all along as smoking substitutes, not quit-aids (two of many examples):

“Understand that this is a cigarette. We are acting as a cigarette company. We have all the applicable warnings on all our packaging that actually backs that up...We do not represent the product as healthy or safe.” Ray Story, VP of Smoking Everywhere

“We can now market our product the way we always should have been able to... This is plain and simple [sic] an alternative to smoking for committed, longtime smokers." Matt Salmon, CEO of Sottera Inc

• E-cigarettes reinforce most aspects of conventional smoking.

Unlike existing quit-smoking aids (including nicotine inhalers), e-cigarettes deliver nicotine directly to the lungs -- making users potentially as dose-responsive to them as they are to conventional cigarettes. Also unlike NRT, e-cigarettes allow users to continue engaging in most of the potentially harmful mental and behavioral patterns associated with smoking. Unlike NRT, e-cigarettes present multiple physical, visual and behavioral relapse triggers at every use.

• E-cigarettes are not the same as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), and NRT itself is not a 'cure'.

NRT significantly raises the odds of ex-smokers remaining smoke-free while they are using it. (NRT is a short-term quit aid, designed to give ex-smokers time to develop new habits and other long-term support; like e-cigarettes, it can't help prevent relapse once one stops using it). The primary action of e-cigarettes -- inhaling nicotine directly into the lungs, getting nicotine to the brain in seconds -- runs counter to the action of NRT. The slow uptake of small, measured levels of nicotine is how NRT breaks down established smoking behaviors and routines (like getting the fix, preparing the fix, lighting the fix, hand-to-mouth with the fix, etc).

Numerous inspections of e-cigarette products also demonstrate wide variations between claimed and actual nicotine doses (even from 'puff-to-puff'), making self-monitoring and/or stepping down/weaning off unreliable and less effective.

• E-cigarettes, while undoubtedly less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, are not proven safe.

One thing we know about NRT is that it's about as safe as any quit medication we can recommend. We don't know that for sure about e-cigs. They haven't been on the market long enough to study the short or long-term consequences of regular use, nor is the effect known of glycolized e-cigarette steam on smokers' lungs. Manufacturing standards have not been set, nor is any oversight entity charged with creating or enforcing them. Dosages vary widely, and some cartridges have been found to contain enough nicotine to kill an adult human if ingested all at once.

In Summary

There's a lot of conspiracy talk in e-cigarette forums, etc (including in the comments below), with the general thread being that tobacco treatment specialists like ourselves would rather have smokers die than approve e-cigarettes for use. That's pretty silly. Most of us do what we do because we've lost loved ones to tobacco and are dedicated to wiping out tobacco illness. The reality is that if e-cigarettes really are effective quitting tools, the research is going to prove it, and we're going to promote them! No conspiracy here.

The fact remains that we can't, under our own standards, give e-cigs the thumbs-up until the research says we can. That takes time and study, and we'll continue to monitor the research and re-evaluate as we go along. We don't urge smokers who use e-cigs to stop doing so (and some of us have worked with smokers who have used them to quit real tobacco), and we hope that they help you quit nicotine for good. In the meantime, please share with us your stories of e-cigarette use, and don't quit quitting till you quit.

Comments

The picture of the guy smoking could be a trigger for someone trying to quit.

Posted @ Sunday, November 20, 2011 6:15 PM
by Nancy

Thanks for your feedback, Nancy. Since this blog is directed at smokers as well as as ex-smokers, we revisit the issue of visual and other triggers with every post. In this case, a point we want to make is that e-cigarettes themselves are visual triggers, and that's an e-cigarette he's puffing on. We'll take your feedback into account next time.

Posted @ Monday, January 02, 2012 10:55 AM
by Alan Peters

I tried e-cigs and nicorette inhalers last time but it wasent really being smoke free....

Posted @ Monday, March 05, 2012 9:36 AM
by saint2012

Thank you, when making my quit plan someone asked me about the e-cigarettes. I made the decision that it would only reinforce the habits I was trying to break so I did not include them in my plan. After reading this I am so glad I did not. Thank you for the great information and for reinforcing my decision not to use them.

Posted @ Saturday, March 10, 2012 11:43 AM
by Donna

While I understand how everyone feels about the e-cig, I am going to disagree strongly. I smoked for 46 years. I tried to quit a few times but I guess I am a weak person when it comes to smoking. When the doctor finally said quit and live or smoke and die I decided I had no choice. I have a lung disease, so to me there was no choice. I went and got a e-cig, menthol as matter of fact and smoke it for a week off and on. Then the second week I bought strawberry flavored refills and smoked them. I didnt sit outside and smoke for a half hour like I used to. I would go outside and take a couple puffs and come back in. Pretty soon I was keeping myself busy and it would be hours before I would go out for 1 puff. It took about a month and I had painlessly quit smoking completely. There are times i have hard days but I don't give in and the urge goes away quickly. I quit smoking aug. 24, 2011, and I am completely sold on using the e-cig as a form of quitting. It worked wonders for me.

Posted @ Friday, March 23, 2012 10:15 PM
by emc1969

I also have to strongly disagree. THINK on this-> the ecig solved my every craving with the look, feel, red glow, (water) vapor smoke and nic hit BUT WITHOUT the 3,000 other bad cig chemicals. PLUS no smell in house or second hand danger or burn holes. These are ALL HUGE to me!

And as said, an ecig is a few puffs and you are done. I just smoke a "real" cig when I want to take a 3-4 minute "cig" break. Usually I am busy and just need an ecig hit or 2. My true cigs went way down and I dont need many ecig "hits" in a day.

Yes, due to FDA changing rules & import blockings, its hard to get quality control but you can "load" your own cartridges. FDA is known hugely driven by lobby money and it plainly shows here. Ecigs rock for me.

Posted @ Tuesday, May 01, 2012 2:06 AM
by Dixie

I have been using e-cigs for a month so has my BF. This to me has been the best way to work towards quitting. I have not had a real cig in over a month, I take a couple puffs a day on the e-cig. This has been the best way that I have found to get off the REAL stinky cigs and man do they stink now ICK. When the craving comes the e-cig is a better solution than the real thing. I have tried it all the Chantix (makes you crazy), welbutrin does nothing, inhaler tastes awful and give you a tummy ache, the gum, ick, the pathes I am allergic too so I had really run out of options so I tried this and I am sure glad I did.

Posted @ Wednesday, October 03, 2012 7:21 AM
by GG63

We're hoping that some of the positive experiences with e-cigs, outlined above, get proved out by research. Until then, QuitNet can't endorse them, being a science and evidence based plan. Meanwhile, tobacco companies are getting into the game; something tells me they know more about e-cig effectiveness than they're letting on.

I smoked for 35 years, tried quitting many times with every various ways, nothing worked. The ecig is my miracle!!! Only took one month to go from 2 packs a day, to none! I have been cig free since 8/01/11, and still no desire to go back. I have many friends and family quit now with the ecig after they saw how it worked for me.

Posted @ Saturday, December 01, 2012 10:05 AM
by Darlene

I tried the gum to quit last June and didnt like it at all. Then I tried the e-cig and it worked. I didn't use it like a replacement for a cigarette, I just took a couple puffs when I needed the nicotine. It took about a month and a half but I was able to taper off and by the end of two months I wasn't using it at all anymore.

Posted @ Tuesday, February 05, 2013 4:49 PM
by Aggie

I guess I’m like the other posters who are e-cigarette users. I've smoked for over 50 years and have tried quitting a number of times without success. Then one day I decided to try an e-cig. I didn’t like it all that much at first, but decided to stay with it to see if I could wean my way off real cigarettes. I went about a week smoking real cigs and alternating with the e-cigs. Then I tried dropping the real cigs for a day, then two days, then the next thing I knew I had gone a week without a real cig. All this happened within the span of a few weeks.

Now I occasionally “try” a couple of puffs from a real cig and find that it tastes horrible. I am currently in the process of working my way off the e-cigs. It’s really easy to cut down the use of the e-cigs since you don’t have to light it and smoke the whole thing or throw it away after smoking a little of it. With an e-cig you can pull it out, take 1-2 puffs and just put it back in your pocket. I’m now at the point to where I’m using “low nicotine” cartridges and I only take 2-3 puffs something like 8-10 times a day.

Perhaps the clue to using the e-cigs to quit is to use a flavor that is more pleasant than real cigarettes. At least that is what seemed to work for me.

Posted @ Wednesday, February 06, 2013 11:48 AM
by hippie51yrs

I tried every method there is, even reading Allen Carrs EasyWay.

I made the switch in just 2 days on a good e-cig (not cheap cigarette looking ones). It was unrealistically easy, I felt like I cheated somehow. And I'm dropping nicotine levels without any symptoms of withdrawal or any want for a normal cigarettes.

Don't say it has no scientific backing, it does, there's many studies out on its effectiveness.

Posted @ Thursday, April 04, 2013 2:15 PM
by Alex

People need to use whatever aid helps them kick the cigarette habit forever.

With that being said, I find it interesting that the FDA has only managed to 'approve' quit smoking treatments that financially benefit Big Pharma (Zyban, Nicotine gum, Nictoderm patches, Chantix, etc.).

Seems to me there is more than meets the eye in the e-cig debate.

Posted @ Tuesday, May 14, 2013 10:38 AM
by Charlene Karedes

So, Nancy, over 1000 published, peer-reviewed studies about the effectiveness of quit aids, and the FDA, are all fake because the manufacturers make money by selling them?

And e-cigs, which have zero published, peer-reviewed studies proving they work to get people nicotine free, are real because you say so--even though manufacturers make money from you advertising for them?

More than meets the eye, indeed.

Posted @ Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:11 AM
by Todd Lakoff

Todd, your thoughts successfully urge critical thinkers to explore why e-cigs have "zero ... peer-reviewed studies"; yet, pharmaceutical quit aids have "over 1000." You also open the door to a relevant discussion of alleged flaws in the peer-review process which has prompted, ironically, some engrossing peer-reviewed articles that force us to question if the "peer-reviewed" label is really all its cracked up to be merely because it is the only show in town.

Finally, I don't think pointing out facts is really "advertising" e-cigs as I opened my post by urging people to use whatever aids prove most successful to ditching their cigarettes for good. However, I do believe in educated consumers and the fact that the FDA receives over 60% of its funding from the very companies whose drugs they review is concerning.

Thank you for your response to my original comments. By the way, my name is not Nancy.

Posted @ Saturday, May 18, 2013 10:53 AM
by Charlene Karedes

Sorry about the name and advertising bits, Charlene, looks like I got those from other misinformed comments. For example, Alex is wrong or dishonest when he says there are many studies on e-cig effectiveness. There aren't. XCEPT THOSE BY E-CIG MANUFACTURERS THEMSELVES. And those don't pass the smell test.

Which is the same conflict of interest you accuse the FDA of on other quit-aids, only much worse.

About the FDA...You point out that the agency is funded by manufacturers with products they want reviewed. You don't mention that those funds are 'user fees'. The government doesn't just start reviewing any product that comes on the market, you have to pay for the approval process.

Like if you want a driver's license, you pay your state for your driving test--it doesn't automatically drive-test every 16 year old for free. Are you bribing the state because you're paying them to test you? Do you believe you don't deserve your driver's license just because you paid the state for it?

I don't understand your comments about flaws in the 'peer review process'. Not sure what you think that means, but peer review is what happens after you publish your study and your methodology in a prominent place, so it can be seen by as many as possible. Other researchers examine your methods and results and either replicate or refute them. There's nothing inherently flawed about that process. It's the LACK of peer review, which is the current problem with e-cig 'studies'. They haven't even been on the market long enough to have any credible testing to validate or debunk their claims. And I should note that a federal court, NOT THE FDA, ordered e-cig sellers to stop claiming they're quit-smoking tools, because there's no evidence that they are.

In the interest of educated consumers, Todd L

Posted @ Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:21 AM
by Todd L

I don't believe anything the FDA, or any other govt. agency says.I do know this for a FACT, I quit smoking cigs more than 6 mos ago using an e-cig,ones I fill myself. I could have never quit cold turkey ,gum , patch or pills,as I tried them all and never succeeded. I am MUCH healthier with the e-cigs. I used a very dose of nicotine,and once I started the e-cig ,never touched another real cigs. As for the health of the e-cig, anything is better than the thousands of chemicals in a cig .

Posted @ Monday, August 05, 2013 9:44 AM
by Chris

More recent research has show that ecigs are effective and pose no real harm to the user or bystander. Time to update your science.

Posted @ Friday, August 30, 2013 10:26 PM
by Fr. Jack Kearney

I quit smoking 8 months ago by using e-cigs. I had failed in my previous six attempts to quit, but the e-cigs made it quite easy. Yes, I'm still inhaling nicotine, but I'm not inhaling thousands of chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic, from cigarettes.

It's not a perfect solution, but I'm convinced (after many hours of my own research) that my risk of lung cancer has fallen dramatically. And while nicotine is bad for the heart, smoking real cigarettes presents much greater risk of heart disease.

I smoked for 35 years and thought I might never be able to quit. E-cigs changed my reality. I believe I am extending my life span by ingesting nicotine-laced steam instead of cancer-causing smoke.

Yes, it is time to look into the latest research, which indicates that e-cigs may not be an effective quitting therapy for everyone, but they are a far healthier alternative than smoking cigarettes.

Posted @ Tuesday, February 18, 2014 12:05 PM
by Mark Fox

All I can tell you is that I was a 42 year chain smoker that tried all of those "proven approved methods" that did NOT work for me. 3-6 months later I'd be smoking again more than ever. Then I discovered Vaping - less than 3 weeks later I wasn't smoking cigarettes and it's been nearly two years now. I chose to start with a "flavor" because I didn't want to focus on "it's not the same" as a Marlboro - and it worked. You couldn't pay me to smoke another cigarette now.

Posted @ Saturday, June 21, 2014 2:48 PM
by Gail Gerloff

Ecigs are absolutely a proven quit method! I made the switch a year ago after many other quit attempts with various NRT. Vaping was the solution for me. If NRT doesn't work for you, vaping is a healthier alternative.

Posted @ Saturday, June 21, 2014 3:20 PM
by Natalie

• E-cigarettes are not proven quit-tools

They are to me, since I quit a 20 year 2-pack/day habit using only vaping. I had tried patches and they are useless. "E-cigs" are fairly useless, too - the cig-a-likes now being marketed by Big Tobacco don't curb the craving and bring you right back to smoking. Real ones work, though. Proven.

• E-cigarettes are officially designated as tobacco products

Pizza is still officially a vegetable. And this is equally ludicrous.

• E-cigarettes reinforce most aspects of conventional smoking

This is necessary for them to WORK on smoking cessation. However, through health, scent, flavor, and removal of stigma, they doubly reinforce all of the aspects of vaping instead of smoking.

• E-cigarettes are not the same as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

Bunk. It's the same nicotine from the same source - which would designate it as a tobacco product but for Pfizer's paid lobby. It has no self-monitoring whatsoever and can be used or misused on the same scale as vaping.

• E-cigarettes are not proven safe

Sure they are. The massive worldwide testing that has gone on for over 5 years now is one clue, the other is that each individual ingredient involved has been demonstrated safe already - that's actually why those ingredients were chosen. PG/VG is commonly given to newborns via inhaler. Nicotine is the same as the gum, patches, and NRT junk already out there. And we ingest and inhale the flavorings every day in our food and cooking. Why is there no document showing PROVING the safety of ecigs as a whole? Surely they have had time to run some tests by now. It's because they do not want one. They can't even TRY to oppress us if one exists.

Sorry about your article, man. It's bogus. But if people actually did quit, you'd be out a job, right?

Posted @ Saturday, June 21, 2014 3:42 PM
by Ray Bradshaw

A few things you should be aware of.

Firstly, it matters not if you condone the use of e-cigs for smoking cessation. The number of users that have had success with them is in the millions now, and not one of those is due to organizations such as yours. We teach others ourselves and have had great success with that. I have converted several smokers myself.

Second, if you want proof of the effectiveness of e-cigs as a cessation method, just look at the numbers. As I said earlier, the number of users is now in the millions just in the US, and by simply reading their stories on blogs, newsfeeds, Facebook, and even here in your comments, you can compile your own "real life" statistics.

Lastly, if you want to know the safety of the "ejuice", again you simply need to look at the "read world" facts. The e-cig went on the market in China in 2004, and very quickly went worldwide. That equates to 10 years of use. I now challenge you to show me just one instance of a person that has died or contracted a serious illness from the "proper use" of an e-cig. When you are able to find none, you will then have your first "real life" long term study of the safety of ejuice. Besides, as stated earlier by another commenter, all four ingredients are already approved at USP grade by the FDA for safe consumption.

In conclusion, while people such as yourself sit on their cans and whine that there is not enough evidence to back the safety and efficacy of the e-cig, tens of thousands of people continue to die annually from smoking related illnesses. That's a high price to pay just to err on the side of caution. I, for one will vape on!!!

Posted @ Saturday, June 21, 2014 8:30 PM
by Keith Hoyle

Ecigs helped me quit a pack a day habit ... tried patches .. they did NOT help .. also there is NO tobacco nor combustion involved with Ecigs ..personally I haven't felt better in my respiratory system in years...

Posted @ Saturday, June 21, 2014 8:37 PM
by JC

Not sure why my comment disappeared, as certainly censorship regarding the other side of this issue doesn't benefit anyone.

You're not going to change the minds of people for whom e-cigarettes are working. They simply cannot understand why people who are allegedly in favor of public health would be against something that has the possibility to reduce harm and extend life.

The problem you have is that as a group, ecig users actually experience the benefits your group and those like your group are pretending don't exist.

In effect, you're telling us not to believe what we actually experience, but believe you instead.

You're simply dead wrong on this issue. That would be OK if 'dead' weren't an actual outcome of your stance.

Posted @ Saturday, June 21, 2014 9:09 PM
by Nelson Phillips

You are so very wrong....I was a 29 year tobacco smoker and tried every item on the market but always went back to smoking in a week or less. One year ago yesterday I purchased my first e-cig. It was an eGo starter kit with bottle of cinnamon e-juice, I started out at 24mg Nic and I still vape, but I am down to a 3mg Nic and have not touched a tobacco cigarette since. My mother and father stopped smoking 100% as well. They are at 9 months smoke free after 50 years habits. My son and daughter have also stopped smoking with the help of e-cigs as well...real world postings and stories from people all over the world that have successfully kicked the tobacco habit like the ones you see here are overlooked and disregarded and it has to be on purpose because the proof is everywhere. I just don't understand anything other than Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and our own Government that relies on the cash cow from the 10's of billions of tax income both state and federal from tobacco cigarettes is behind the ban and restrictions push. Nothing I have read has changed my mind on who is behind this nonsense. Why is there even a reason to ban or restrict anything other than an age restriction to do with e-cigs when tobacco cigarettes are sold on every corner and they are proven to kill 9 out of 10 people that smoke them eventually as well as many more that don't smoke them. The years of long term studies are all out there on pg, vg, and nicotine if you just bother to look them up. Not one person has died from e-cigs...This is not the case with FDA approved NRT methods as there have been hundreds of deaths and suicides. I can just smh in disgust. Oh and I also tried the e-cigs that are being marketed by Big Tobacco that look just like a tobacco cigarette. They do not work anything like the personal vaporizer type e-cigs but that's no big surprise. I will ask you this... Do you really think big tobacco wants them to work?

Posted @ Sunday, June 22, 2014 12:10 AM
by Jim C

>>>>>>>>>> Approximately 155000 people die every day on our planet.<<<<<<<<<

Alcohol: That's about 7,000/day, if I did my math right.

Drugs: I got different answers on this, but they were all ranging from 20,000 to

250,000. This was different surveys including prescription overdoses, street

drugs, accidental and suicides. Of course the loved ones left behind are the ones

that continue to suffer most.

In the U.S, 1,215 people die daily from the effects of smoking cigarettes. Here's

some more stats: • A third of male adults smoke worldwide • smoking related diseases kills 1 in 10 people globally • by the year 2030 smoking will kill as many as 1 in 6 people • the rate of smoking is on the rise in developing countries and declining in

developed • In America rates have decreased from the mid 1960's to the mid 1990s by 23% • In developing countries the rate has increased at a rate of 3.4 % pr year • 12 times more British people have died related to smoking than all the deaths of

world war 2 • Smoking causes more than 1 in 5 deaths in America • In the Western Pacific region has the highest rate of smoking 2.3 of men smoke • 1 in 3 cigarettes are sold in the region • in young teens 13-15 years of age 1 in 5 smoke • 80,000 and 10,000 children start smoking every day, 1.2 of these live in Asia • 50% of these smoke for the next 15-20 years • Cambodia 67% of urban males smoke and 86% of rural • China 67% males 4 % of women 3000 due every day in China related to smoking • Japan 51% males and 10% of women and this is on the rise in women • Malaysia 50% of men and 30% of adolescent boys, lung cancer is increasing • Phillipines 60% of men 40% boys • Korea 67% men 6.7% of women ...

According to my online googled research an estimated 16,439 smokers will die of smoking related disease...... TODAY!

What can we do about this? Primarily we can totally ban or eliminate tobacco from

our societies. Of course this is never going to happen for all of the obvious

reasons. Help people to quit smoking even if it cost you a couple of customers.

SMOKE vs VAPOUR! The is no comparison!

By the way....I suffer with COPD and am near death at this moment. Many caring,